A BAND of travellers were told to leave Winsford for their own safety amid fears they would be targeted by drunken clubbers.

The families, travelling together in five caravans, were visited by police on Friday and warned to move on as officers were concerned they could be attacked by weekend boozers.

They had set up camp on a car park at Winsford Flashes, close to a number of pubs and clubs, and it was feared drunken revellers would see them as an easy target for trouble and abuse.

Insp Brian Roberts, of Winsford police, said: 'We asked them to move on for their own safety.

'They could be seen as a target by troublemakers so we spoke to them and asked to move on. They were very co-operative and understood what we were trying to say.' Tensions have long existed between residents and members of the travelling community and a number of recent high-profile incidents in Cheshire have inflamed matters, particularly in Ellesmere Port when two teenagers were found guilty of the manslaughter of 15-year-old traveller Johnny Delaney.